


I Know

by Idzzdi



Series: I.. [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Kissing, Falling In Love, Fame, First Kiss, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 07:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idzzdi/pseuds/Idzzdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to ‘I Figured’ - Harry is still unkissed and Louis would like to change that, but does Harry want a famous pop star boyfriend?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know

**Author's Note:**

> I’m afraid Liam is kind of out of character.. but I needed Harry to have a friend who’s pushy and kind of kicks his ass, so yeah. Liam is really confident. Haha.

“Liam? Liam!“ Harry almost shouted through the phone and Liam held the speaker instinctively at arm length from his ear.

“What happened?” He shouted back, his brows furrowing in concern. Harry wasn’t made of nerves of steal, but he wasn’t a crybaby either and so Liam didn’t know what to expect when his friend called him late on Tuesday night. It was a school night and Liam wasn’t going to be the partypooper, but it was past 11pm already, and yeah. Some people needed their beauty sleep.

“Louis.” Harry gasped out and Liam shot up in bed because, yes, this was good.

“Louis what?” He prompted, eager to hear the whole story.

“He called me.”

Liam was about to get even more excited, but he held his breath for a short moment, different thoughts playing through his brain.

“You answered, right? You talked to him, didn’t you Harry?”

“Yes.” The younger boy replied forcefully and Liam heard from the sound of his voice that he was blushing at the other end of the line. “Well.. I did the second time he called, so..” He added quietly and Liam sighed out a breath, trying not to sound too annoyed.

“That’s.. good.” He said, swallowing a bit. It was good, because Harry was perfect at fucking things up, especially when he got nervous. So yes, this really was good.

“Yeah.” Harry agreed lamely, obviously lost in their conversation.

“So what did he say then?”

“Oh.” It sounded like Harry hadn’t considered that part of the conversation. “Well, er, he said that.. that he was good.. err..”

“Yeah, smalltalk: check. What else did he say?”

“He might’ve.. said that.. he.. liked.. the date?” Harry said tentatively and it sounded more like a question, but Liam couldn’t help but grin. The younger boy got so adorable when the conversation turned to Louis, or boys in general, or just people. He was so incredibly shy Liam sometimes was surprised by how the boy even made it through life without getting eaten away by his fear of talking to anyone. Well, anyone besides his family and Liam and Zayn. And now apparently Louis.

“That’s amazing Harry! Did you say you liked it too?”

“Might have.” He admitted sheepishly and Liam felt stupid as pride swelled in his chest. He only set them up, he didn’t go and help him. This was on Harry and Harry only, and he had done so well.

“So.. Is there a second date then?” Liam asked, the smile evident in his voice because obviously there was going to be a second date. Harry was totally smitten with Louis and if Louis only liked him half as much as the curly haired boy did, they would be getting married sometime in the near future.

“There might be?” Harry said quietly and Liam imagined him to be staring down at his feet to avoid eye contact even though Liam wasn’t even with him. “I mean he.. asked.”

“Good, good. Good!” Liam chanted, getting up from his bed and pacing through his room, sudden energy running through his system. “When is it? And where? Zayn and I are gonna help you get pretty again!”

“Liam-”

The older boy stopped talking and listened, trying to make out Harry thoughts through his breath or the little stifled sounds he was making as Liam heard him pace through his room just like he was doing it.

“We don’t have to-” Liam tried but Harry whimpered out a quiet sound and so he shut up, waiting for the younger boy to elaborate.

“There is.. er.. not really a.. date? Yet?” He sounded so unsure, so helpless, but Liam was completely thrown off now, stopping in his tracks and merely holding his breath. “I, well, he asked.. and I just- I didn’t- I didn’t say no as such.. but.. I, err..”

“Harry.” Liam said calmly, wincing at the thought of how utterly stupid his friend may have been. Probably was. Was. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him you didn’t want to go on another date.”

The silence on the other end of the line let Liam know that he was correct. Or at least that he wasn’t wrong.

“Harry! Jesus Christ. It’s been four days and all you talk about is him. So when he asks you on another date you don’t fucking tell him you don’t wanna go!” He took in a sharp breath, sighing in frustration and regretting getting angry with his friend already a little bit.

“I didn’t..”

“You didn’t what, Harry?”

Silence.

“Harry, tell me what you told Louis. Exactly what you told Louis.”

“I don’t- he just- I..”

“Oh and quit the stuttering, just spit it out! The sooner you tell me the sooner I can get down to the damage control and save your crappy stupid ass. Jesus Harry, you should be so happy I’m your friend.”

“Fine.” Harry spat, sounding angry all the sudden. Liam figured that that was what he got for being angry in the first place. “He said he liked the date and that he thought a lot about it and that he wanted to go out again and what my thoughts were.”

“And you said..?”

“I said I’d have to call you first.”

It took all of Liam’s willpower not to commit suicide right in that moment, for various reason. Harry’s awkwardness and shy behavior that may have cost him a lovely relationship, but also his incredibly lovely and flattering deep believe in their friendship.

“You’re lucky your cute.” Liam muttered out, swallowing down all the nasty thing he wanted to say, all the things he wanted to tell Harry for being so utterly stupid not to tell Louis how much he liked him back!

But Harry seemed confused by that statement, his breath slowing down a little and Liam figured Harry was waiting for more instructions.

“Well what do you want me to say?” Liam asked, shrugging as he walked over it his window, gazing out into the cloudy sky. “I approve? Have my blessing? Go get your knight? .. Whatever you wanted to hear, consider it said now and go freaking call him back! - Or else I will.”

“Liam, I don’t think-”

“-that that’s a good idea? Yeah neither do I, so you better get going.”

“Why’re you so pissed?” Harry mumbled out half angry, half hurt but Liam wasn’t sure if he really expected an answer. “Did Zayn not blow you properly or something?”

Click.

The line was dead. And so is Harry., Liam thought angrily.

~

To say that Louis was confused after he had ended the phone call with Harry would have been understated. He was sat in the chair of his stylist, glancing down at his phone after he had hung up. The stylist was running her hands through Louis’ hair, eying him curiously but she didn’t ask questions and Louis simply avoided her eyes. She was nice, Louis liked her a lot, she was a great listener too, and she probably knew Louis was gay – because, well he just asked a ‘Harry’ for a date and Louis was almost positive the stylist knew that that was no girls’ name. But anyways.

Louis decided that it was best to ask Niall about it. He was related to Liam after all so he’d be able to tell Louis what exactly was going on between Liam and Harry. Because Harry seemed so very attached that Louis couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they were more then just friends.

His hair was done and the stylist moved on to do his makeup, running the feathery brushed over his face with skilled motions and Louis tilted his head into the movement from time to time. He remembered how weird it had been at first, having to wear makeup for interviews and show all the time, but he had gotten used to it by now – and knew how much every stylist appreciated that he had stopped squirming and fighting them when they did so much as approach him with powder and foundation.

The brush still lingering on the skin of his face Louis couldn’t help but flinch when suddenly the phone he still held in his hands rang, the screen flashing brightly out of nowhere. Trying to disrupt the stylist as little as he could Louis glanced down carefully, only to flinch again when he saw Harry’s name pop up on the screen. The stylist sighed and removed her hands from his face, stepping back a little to give him room, but he barely realized, too caught up with the incoming call.

“Make it quick, you only have five minutes before you’re up.” The stylist told Louis, snatching him out of his thoughts and his head shot up along with his hand he was still holding the phone with.

“Yes, right.” He agreed hastily, pressing the answer button and bringing the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, er, well.. This is Harry.” He hear the other boy say tentatively and he couldn’t help but smile, because well Harry was adorable.

“I know.” Louis replied with a light chuckle. “This is Louis.” He couldn’t help but say and in response he heard Harry’s shy laugh through the speaker.

“I know.”

Louis was beaming now. He liked how Harry had picked up their little banter from their first date and how he remembered. Because Louis sure did and he had already told the younger boy. Though without getting quite the response he had been hoping for. After all Harry hadn’t really agreed on going on a date, while not really rejecting him either. And now he was calling again, so this was about to get interesting.

“So?” Louis asked, catching the half annoyed look the stylist shot him. He knew what that look meant. He was wasting time.

“So, err, well..” Harry began and Louis motioned for the stylist. She might as well do his makeup while he listened to Harry’s stuttering. And if his lips and cheeks were a little more pink or his eyes lit up a little brighter she would only be happy.

“I was thinking..”

“Yes, Harry?” Louis asked, pressing his lips together quickly as the stylist ran a sponge across his chin, stroking his lips lightly.

“I spoke to Liam..” He seemed to wait for a response, but Louis was wanting to hear the boy out first and even if he had wanted to reply, his lips were pressed shut again as the sponge returned, this time running over the small area of skin between his lips and nose. “He said to, er, call you.”

“Hmm.” Louis hummed, his lips still shut tightly.

“He said to.. tell you that.. that..” He heard Harry swallow and breath out. “.. that.. I would like to go, err.. on that, er, date. The one you said, you- Yeah. The, er, date.”

“Two minutes.” Somebody outside of the door yelled and the stylist nodded towards Louis to let him know that it was almost time to go.

“If you still like.” Harry added hastily as Louis didn’t respond right away and that was when the older boy snapped.

“I- Yes! No sure, I still wanna go. Listen I’m kind of in a rush right now, but why don’t I call you sometime next week and we’ll grab lunch together or something?” Louis offered, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Oh, okay.” Harry’s response came, sounding somewhat frustrated.

“Okay, cool.” Louis went for cheery and maybe a little cheeky as he added “I’m really looking forward to it. Bye Harry!”

And with those words he hung up, jumping off his chair and following the stylist who already stood in the doorway, ready to lead him down to the studio.

“I didn’t mean to overhear your conversation, but.. you’re in the States next week.”

Well crap.

~

You alright?

Harry glanced down at the sheet of paper Liam had slid over the table towards him and rolled his eyes a little as he stuffed the paper underneath his actual worksheet as the teacher came walking by. Liam shot him a look and raised his eyebrows as if to tell him to better answer his little scribbled question. Only half convinced Harry turned around to ensure that the teacher was occupied elsewhere before pulling out the paper again.

Yes.

He wrote back, not too keen on this conversation. He knew what Liam wanted to hear and he also knew that, no, he was not okay. But he wasn’t up to discuss this. And Liam knew, but he was also clever enough to force Harry into this conversation during class when he couldn’t just run away. So all Harry could do was to try to avoid the topic for as long as possible.

I know you’re depressed because of the thing with Louis.

Okay, well there went that plan. Fine., Louis thought. He’d have to talk about it sometime soon anyways.

I’m not depressed as such.

You’re sad.

I may or may not be.. Liam this is really not the time to discuss this.

Harry hoped that this might have been the end of their conversation, but he should have known that Liam went ahead and simply ignored his comment, getting back to the topic at hand.

You’re sad. You’re sad because he said he’d go out with you and now he’s run off to the States and didn’t call you all last week and now it’s Tuesday already and he still hadn’t talked to you.

Way to bring a friend down Liam, good job.

Harry didn’t really look for Liam’s reaction but when the paper didn’t fall back onto his table for more then five minutes ha glanced over at his friend to find him starring right back at him. His expression was necessarily hurt or piteous, but it expressed the sympathy he was feeling. Yeah great, well that didn’t make Harry feel any better.

He lowered his head a moment later, scribbling a quick response before the paper fluttered back onto Harry’s desk.

You know, I could just ask Niall. He was the one who sent me the article about Louis being in the States in the first place. He could probably tell you when he’s coming back..

Harry rolled his eyes as he read Liam’s reply because, really, he wasn’t that desperate. He wasn’t looking at his friend but he knew he saw him nevertheless and bent his head down, pretending to think about an answer as he nibbled on his bottom lip.

He wasn’t too sure about this whole America thing. Louis had told him they would go out the next week – which now already was last week – and then he had left the continent. Not exactly the response you hoped for when asking somebody out for a date. Which Harry knew, he hadn’t technically done that, he had only called back and agreed to the proposition Louis had made, but it still felt like a huge step. And so now the rejection felt even worse.

All last week Harry had felt giddy, waiting by his phone patiently almost every day – though he would never admit that, not to Liam and not to himself. And though he was okay at keeping his excitement down to where people just thought he was in a good mood, he couldn’t help but become more and more frustrated as the week went on and Louis still hadn’t called him. Or texted. Or given sign of begin alive. Other than of course appearing in loads of newspaper articles about his stay in America. Liam’s cousin Niall had emailed them the links and Harry had to stop himself from bookmarking every single one after reading it at least a hundred times.

So okay, maybe he had a crush on the boy. And maybe their first date had been the most perfect in the whole entire world. And Louis saying that he wanted to see Harry again only had made it better. But now that he was hit with reality, suddenly realizing that Louis was still Louis Tomlinson, the loved and adored teenage pop sensation, Harry felt stupid for every believing that Louis had even considered a second date with him. He himself thought that if he was Louis, he wouldn’t go out with himself twice. And that’s pretty sad.

So Harry was moping, still staring down at the paper in his hand as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. God dammit, Liam., he thought as he fiddled with his pocket. The older boy was a really good lad, but he tended to get pushy when he tried to get something out of Harry. And so he obviously couldn’t wait for Harry to pass the paper back and decided to text him instead.

Still grumbling Harry placed the phone on the table, hiding it behind his opened book and glancing up the teacher – just to make sure – before tapping the screen and unlocking it, glancing at the text.

“Hey, sorry for the hold up, but I was busy and stuff, I guess you saw?! Anyways, are we still on or..?”

Harry’s brows furrowed in confusion and he glanced over at the boy next to him who wasn’t looking back at him but instead raising his arm. Okay, Liam was participating in class, so he probably didn’t- But who-? Oh-

From: Louis (11:36am)

“Hey, sorry for the hold up, but I was busy and stuff, I guess you saw?! Anyways, are we still on or..?”

Harry scrambled for the paper, almost knocking his book and water bottle off the table as he hastily looked for a pen to write with. The girl sitting in his left shot him a funny look but he couldn’t care less, too focused on needing to tell Liam and too fucking excited.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT LOUIS JUST TEXTED!!!

He swat the sheet on Liam’s desk nodding his head to urge Liam into reading the note. His raised arm still in the air Liam grabbed the paper and read, his arm getting lower and lower as the grin on his face spread wider and wider.

Suddenly his arm shot up in the air again, the corners of his lips tilting downwards as he straightened up in his seat.

“Yes, Liam?” The teacher asked, a little taken aback by Liam’s sudden urge to get to speak. The entire class was starring at him and so was Harry, utterly confused as to what his friend was doing.

“Excuse me, sir, but I’m not feeling too well.” He said, adding a little pout just to make it more believable. “Would you mind if I went to see the school nurse?”

“Sure.” The teacher replied, obviously thrown off. “Maybe, er, Stacy would you mind going with-”

“Actually,” Liam cut in “I’d like Harry to come if that’s not a problem.”

If anybody in the room hadn’t already been completely thrown off by Liam’s actions yet they most certainly were now, but the teacher only nodded and Liam showed of his best ‘sick-and-thankful’-smile before muttering “Grab your phone.” and dragged Harry out with him.

“Are we skipping class?” Was the first thing the fell out of Harry’s mouth after they had left the class room. His eyes were comically wide, only underlining the incredulous look on his face.

“Kind of, maybe.” Liam admitted, dragging him down the hallway towards one of the men’s bathrooms. “Show me that text already.”

Harry made a mental mark to remember that apparently this was how he got Liam to skip class with him successfully before handing the older boy his phone, watching as he read.

“Well,” Liam concluded as he handed Harry back the phone “Say yes already.”

“Okay.” Harry agreed, nodding, stopping in his tracks as Liam looked at him funnily as he went to put his phone back into his pocket. “Like.. right now?” He asked, his eyes growing wide and Liam sighed.

“Of course right now. Or else you’re never gonna do it.”

“Yes, I will. I will just-” But Liam wasn’t having any of that, already reaching over to grab the phone from Harry.

“Gimme that.”

“No, Liam!”

“Harry!”

They were pushing each other, fighting for the phone Harry’s hand was still clutched around.

“It’s my phone.”

“But you won’t text him!”

“Yes, Liam, now just- No! No, no no. Come back!”

Liam had managed to snatch the phone from Harry’s grip and had disappeared into one of the stalls, slamming the doors shut as soon as he had gotten there. He locked it and Harry’s hammering against the door was in vain as Liam typed out a reply.

“I’ll just tell him you’re still on.” Liam explained as Harry was still shouting at him through the door of the stall. “Shut up already, or somebody will hear us. I won’t be having detention as a reward for setting you up with your pop star boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Harry growled back, though he had stopped hammering against the door and Liam heard him pace up and down in front of the stalls. “At least tell me what you wrote.”

“I said ‘Yeah, I saw. Hope you had a fun time in the States. I guess we’re still on, what did you have in mind?‘”

Harry didn’t reply, because well okay that really wasn’t too bad. Probably better then he would have done. The only thing left in question was whether Liam was actually saying the truth.

“You better let me know when he replies.” Harry said, the anger evident in his voice. Liam hummed in response and then they both sat in silence – Liam on the lid of the toilet and Harry on the edge of the sink – as they waited for Louis to text back.

Minutes passed before Liam felt a familiar vibration in his hand and made a little sound that made Harry perk up as well.

“What did he say?” Harry asked right away, jumping to his feet.

“He said..” Liam said as he slid the message open and read through it quickly “’It was fun, thanks. Busy though and I still kinda am. Are you free today?‘”

“No!” Harry said right away, walking up to the stall again. “Liam, no! Say no!” He pounded on the door. “No. I can’t go today. I’m not dressed properly. I’m not ready mentally. I need time. No! Liam. Liam?” There was no response and Harry feared the worst. “Don’t you dare. No!”

“Chill.” Liam said, still not opening the door to his stall. Liam telling him to chill; this day shall forever be remembered in the history books. “I said ‘I’m at school right now, but I get out at three.’”

“Liam.” Harry whined and a moment later the lock was flicked open and Liam came walking out of the stall, a shit eating grin on his face as he tossed Harry his phone back. The younger boy unlocked it immediately, going through his messages and finding that Liam had said nothing but the truth. Though by now he wasn’t sure if that was a relief anymore.

Liam must have spotted the look on his face, rolling his eyes, as he walked over to the sinks.

“You’re lucky I didn’t say ‘I’m free today and also I won’t stop annoying my friends with how much I wanna fuck you against any surface in this planet.’”

“Lucky me.” Harry commented drily as he walked up to Liam and stood with him, nervously rocking back and forth on the tips of his toes as he waited for the reply. There still was a chance that Liam had not just arranged a date for him today that he was totally not ready for.

From: Louis (11:52pm)

“I’ll come and pick you up at three then. Looking forward to it. x”

Well never mind that chance.

~

Louis had his car parked in the Harry’s school’s parking lot a short time before three o’clock. He had gotten out, leaning against the hood of the car as he waited for the younger boy to arrive. Soon enough students started pouring out of the building, glancing at Louis curiously. He pulled down his beanie a littler lower in an effort to cover up the fringe of his hair; his eyes hidden behind large sunglasses. It may not have been the perfect disguise but minus his hair and his eyes Louis thought he looked pretty much like an average lad, chilling by his car.

And so luckily nobody recognized him – though Louis felt like he was close to being called out a time or two when giggly teenage girls wouldn’t stop staring at him, giggling with their friends. Louis tried to ignore it, keeping his eyes fixed on the school’s main entrance and searching the crowd for dark curly hair and the small bashful smile Louis had been missing all last week.

The parking lot had almost cleared out and Louis had almost started worrying about the younger boy, but then he finally spotted him, exiting the building with two boys by his side. They had taken him in their middle, dragging him away from the doors onto the street. The one was tall, with a dark skin and dark tall hair, the other a little shorter with a buzz cut and a warm smile; and Louis wasn’t positive but he thought he had seen the ladder boy in the car with Harry at the night of their date.

It took the three boys some time to notice Louis, but he saw the dark haired one pointing at him after a while and Harry looked up. Their eyes met for a moment and Harry blushed – of course – before he turned back towards his friend and said a few words while nodding his head. The dark haired boy grinned back, shoving Harry forwards a little and gesturing towards Louis as Harry awkwardly collected himself, slowly starting to approach Louis’ car.

Looking past the boy that came approaching him Louis saw the two boys that had stayed back sticking their heads together laughing, the taller one pressing a kiss onto the shorter one’s lips before they walked away together. Oh- This had to be Liam and Zayn then. Niall’s cousin Liam and his boyfriend Zayn, the ‘Liam and Zayn’, the perfect gay couple Niall wouldn’t ever shut up about when consulting Louis and his relationships.

Okay fine, so maybe Louis was jealous.

But all jealously vanished when his eyes focused back on Harry who had almost reached him now. The curly hair was falling into his face and he pushed back the curls with his hands, a shy smile plastered across his lips as he came to a halt.

“Hey Harry!” Louis greeted happily, smiling widely at the younger boy who only blushed more but didn’t step back.

“Er.. Hey.” Harry replied, nibbling on his bottom lip. “Barely recognized you.” The boy admitted shyly, vaguely motioning towards Louis’ glasses and beanie.

“That’s kind of the point.” Louis replied with a grin, pushing himself off the hood and walking around his car to open the passenger door for Harry. The younger boy looked thrown off and Louis wasn’t sure whether it was because of what he had said or because of his move of opening the door. But Harry must have shaken off any odd feelings, because only a moment later he was climbing into the car, quietly thanking Louis before he shut the door.

“So,” Louis began upon walking around the car and climbing into the driver’s seat. “We could grab lunch. Are you hungry?”

“Erm..” Harry stared down at his hands, nervously fiddling with his fingers. “Not really.” He admitted after a while, but Louis didn’t care. He was in a good mood, he was really excited for this and the other boy’s shyness only made him even more ecstatic.

“Oh, okay. Maybe coffee then?”

“I- Yeah.” Harry nodded, still not looking up.

~

So, the date was going good. Louis was pretty sure it was. Harry was still quiet like he had been the first time, only talking when making an effort to ramble himself into trouble. Louis had a hard time not starting to laugh as soon as the younger boy opened his mouth, because well, he was hilarious. It wasn’t so much that Louis was laughing about Harry or at Harry. The younger boy just made him feel joyful and so, so happy he had decided to ask him out again.

Obviously Louis couldn’t be sure, but he had a feeling that Harry was having a good time as well. He relaxed more and more into their conversation – which really was only Louis talking in the beginning – and slowly adjusted himself until they managed to get an almost normal conversation flowing. It was still a little awkward though when Harry turned to ask about Louis’ time in America.

“So what did you- What did you do there exactly?” The boy wanted to know and Louis kind of really didn’t want to answer the question, but it was the first time Harry took the initiative and asked something completely on his own. And also, if this thing between them was to go anywhere further in the future Louis wanted Harry to know right away what he was getting himself into.

“I was on a promotion tour.. for new music. For, well, my new album.”

“Oh-”

“Yeah, it’s not as great as it sounds really.”

“The tour or the album?”

Louis had to fight a grin, looking back at the innocent eyes of the younger boy. “The promotion tour.”

“Oh, okay.” He swallowed, biting down onto his lip again. “Because I listened to the album and that’s pretty great actually.”

Louis choked. On his own spit. Louis choked, because he was not expecting that. It wasn’t like he didn’t want Harry to listen to it, because really thousands of people did, but he couldn’t help but feel a little awkward and blush a light shade of pink.

“Oh?” Was all be could say without making a fool of himself.

“Well, yes. I wasn’t, like, looking for it, but er, Niall sent Liam some links from articles and then some of videos and well Liam kind of went from there and, yeah, bought me the album.” And the younger boy was back to rambling, his eyes glued to the table in between Louis and him. “It’s not really.. my kinda music, but, well I suppose it’s good. Like, the singing. It sounds nice I guess? And the lyrics are deep. Somewhat.” Louis smiled at that and Harry glanced up just in time to catch it and smile back at him. Lowering his eyes again Harry bit hard on his lips, before muttering out a few more words. “And the cover is hot.”

Louis couldn’t help but laugh at that, because wow Harry was really coming out of his little shy self right now. The look on the curly haired lad’s face right after the words had fallen out of his mouth were priceless too, because it showed that he clearly hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But Louis liked it, he felt really flattered, cozy warmth burning in the bottom of his stomach.

“.. I’ve heard!” Harry added after a short moment, trying to cover up what he had just said, but the blush on his cheeks gave him away and Louis laughed again, embracing the fact that the boy across from him probably had as much of a crush on Louis as Louis had on him. And that was okay.

“Whatever you say, curly.” Louis agreed, his hand grabbing Harry’s in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, but sent exciting sparks through Louis’ spine and put an adorable blush on Harry’s cheeks and neck.

~

Louis liked the exciting feeling of Harry’s hand in his, of his fingers laced through his own. And so he decided to leave it there. Leave it there for the rest of their time at the coffee shop. Leave it there when the waitress came walking up to bring the bill for Louis. Only remove it when they both got up to push out the door and into the surprisingly warm afternoon air.

“So..?” Harry prompted, ready to start a really awkward conversation. But Louis wasn’t having any of that, neither did he want the date to be over yet and so he only turned to Harry smiling, reaching for his hand again.

“Wanna go down to the park for a bit?” He asked, his hand still reaching out for Harry as he used his other hand to adjust his beanie and pull on the sunglasses again. (He hated them and he also thought it was kinda rude, because well Harry couldn’t see his eyes, but it was all just to be on the safe side.)

The younger boy seemed genuinely surprised and tensed a bit, but Louis ignored it, simply grabbing his hand and dragging him along as he started walking slowly. Harry didn’t object and so Louis felt encourage to tangle their fingers together again and grin up at the boy next to him in excitement. Harry smiled back shyly before lowering his eyes again, avoiding Louis’ gaze.

They walked in silence for a while, but Louis didn’t feel uncomfortable, embracing the feeling of the sun on his skin and Harry’s skin against his. It was nice and as they kept walking Louis thought he could get used to this. He liked the idea of having a boyfriend again, because frankly ever since he had gotten even just remotely famous it had gotten incredibly hard to find guys to go on dates on. But Harry seemed pretty perfect for that and so Louis was just happy to be here with him, in public, unrecognized from fans or paps.

“Can I ask you something?” Harry said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. Louis glanced up at him in surprise. Harry did talk, but it still wasn’t like him to start a conversation.

“Sure, ask away.” Louis replied with a smile.

“What’s it like to.. be.. famous?”

And ah god no, Louis did not want to answer that question. He could not answer that question, because well, what was being famous like?

“It’s uh hard.. to explain, not being famous that is. I mean I guess it is, but.. It’s normal for me now, so yeah, it’s weird trying to describe it.”

“Hmm.” Harry hummed in agreement. “But, like, uh what do you do on.. well just a normal day? Like do you have an office you go to every day or do you just have an arena to be at every night or how does that go?”

Louis laughed, because Harry was freaking adorable when he was all naïve. Of course he would ask something like that, it was something very Harry to do.

“Uh, no.” Louis replied with a chuckle. “I don’t have an office. Neither do I have an arena. I don’t really have a certain routine in my day where I like go to the same place every morning. Usually my manager tells me the night before where and when I need to be at. And then I just go from there.” Harry still looked rather confused. “Doing interviews, or photo shoots or some recording in the studio. Just whatever needs to be done really.”

Harry nodded in agreement, making an understanding sound but Louis wasn’t sure if his answer had been any good. But he didn’t want to explain it any further, trying to get away from the subject as soon as possible, because he felt like it drove him and Harry further apart. It was something Harry wasn’t part of but he seemed all the more interested in it, never stopping to ask question.

“So, like, what do you do tomorrow? An interview or do you record at the moment or..?”

“Uh, no. Tomorrow I’m rehearsing for a performance during a TV show on Sunday. And the new single has just come out, so I don’t really know any choreo for it yet and they’re trying to give me some extra time, so yeah. Rehearsals start tomorrow.”

“Sounds exhausting.” Harry commented, with his eyebrows cocked at Louis, but Louis only shrugged it off, hoping that this was finally the end of this conversation.

And it was, because Harry went back to his initial silence and Louis relaxed again, trying to enjoy the warmth on his skin from the sun and Harry’s hand like he had before.

They walked for almost thirty minutes before they reached an ice cream stand and Louis couldn’t refuse. He said he really wanted some ice cream, when in reality all he really wanted was to see Harry lick the cone. Louis knew he shouldn’t he thinking or feeling that way he and scold himself shamefully as he paid for the treats.

Well, it’s too late now., he thought, shrugging his shoulders in an ‘might as well go for it’ way and couldn’t help but stare as Harry’s lips parted and his tongue darted out to collect some of the delicious ice cream.

“It’s good.” Harry mumbled and Louis was suddenly very glad he had let go of Harry’s hand to pay for the ice cream, because if he hadn’t the boy would now realize just how shaky and sweaty Louis’ palm had gotten over that statement.

“Oh, hi.” A girl stated, pulling on his sleeve and dragging his attention away from Harry. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you look an awful lot like Louis Tomlinson.”

Louis sighed in defeat, trying to get a smile to appear on his lips. Fans, great. Really not what he needed right now. He knew his disguise wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t want to look like a fool when going on a date with Harry. He wished he had at least not put on his favorite skinny jeans, because well, yes, they were his favorite, but he also been caught on camera with them on at least a dozen times before. But all worries were too late now and so he played a long for the fan, grinning for her camera and signing anything and everything she held under his nose. All the while Harry stood a couple feet away, obviously thrown off by the situation and looking a little lost. Louis send him a reassuring smile, hoping that the girl’s appearance didn’t scare him off too much.

He hadn’t thought much about what the fan would think about Harry, but when she suddenly asked if Louis had a new girlfriend yet he was suddenly relieved that he hadn’t been holding Harry’s hand when she had approached him. Relieved the one moment and utterly disappointed the next, because well that would have been a great way to tell management off, but he pushed that thought to the back of his head because this really wasn’t an option right now.

And so he kindly told the girl that he wasn’t interested in any girls at the moment, putting special emphasizes on the word, but she didn’t catch it. And he wasn’t too sure whether Harry did, but if he did he didn’t show any reaction to it.

After almost ten minutes of talking - but what felt like torture – Louis finally managed to shake the girl off, promising to yes, definitely give her a call on that number she had given to him. He walked away, pulling Harry with him though making sure to place his hand high on his back and nowhere suspicious. Well great, now he was almost blowing off dates for his stupid management. They better be fucking proud!

So Louis was mad now and he tried not to show it, but he was almost positive he had had failed to do so. Harry stayed silent – well what’s news? - for the rest of their walk. Louis led them back to his car and they both got in. With a forced and somewhat awkward smile Louis offered to take Harry home and the boy only smiled back, nodding with a warm look in his eyes. But Louis missed the warmth in his look and the happiness on his face, because he was too mad. And missing this, only made him more mad.

While driving he kept his eyes on the rode, scolding himself inwardly for ruining the date. Technically it wasn’t him who ruined the date, but the fan – just like they had on their last date, ugh thanks – and the way she wouldn’t let go of him. He knew that maybe he also didn’t react in the best way, but who cared now? Harry was probably already pissed at how Louis couldn’t even take him out without getting recognized or talking about how famous and special he was. It made Louis himself feel sick and it was one of those few times where he really wished he wasn’t all that well-known.

When he pulled up in front of Harry’s house he was still incredibly angry, mostly with himself but also with that stupid girl from the restaurant and this stupid, stupid girl from the park. Stupid girls in general. Oh, and stupid Harry who sat facing him now with his stupid ridiculously good looking hair and his stupid cute nose and his stupid shy smile and his stupid glowing eyes and his stupid everything.

“Alright, well, thanks.” Harry said, grabbing his bag from between his legs and reaching to open the door, with a smile directed at Louis.

“Yeah, hey, let me..” He started, his good manners taking over and so he got out, walked around the car and opened the door for Harry, smiling back because well somehow Harry was just cute and made him smile when his stupidly adorable dimples came poking though.

“Okay well, thanks.. for everything.” Harry said vaguely nodding in the general direction of Louis’ car and the street they had come from. Louis nodded back.

“Yeah no problem. It was nice.” He forced out, trying not to think about the fan who had ruined everything. She was such a- Never mind.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment and Louis let out a sigh. He hated those after-date-talks. Especially when they were after a date which was doomed to be the last one. In fact he had quite liked it the last time, after their first date, when he got to tell Harry that he really liked him even though he was shy and a little awkward. But this time.. this time he was sure that Harry didn’t want to see him again. Nobody would like to put up with someone who couldn’t go out without either having attention thrown at them and not being able to hold his hand or having to wear some hideous disguise. Louis got it, it was okay. Except it was not, because he really liked Harry. But Harry didn’t – couldn’t – like him back so there was that.

“Okay,” Louis started, trying to make this as short as possible “I think I’ll go and..”

“.. call a fan?” Harry prompted with a smile.

“Yeah, right.” Louis snapped, shoving his hands into his pockets as he glared at the ground. Okay, so the girl had given him his number and maybe that had hurt Harry but he really didn’t need the boy throwing it at his face. And Louis really wasn’t up for a fight.

So he left.

He didn’t look back and he didn’t say another word but neither did Harry, and it kind of made his heart ache but he kind of thought he deserved it. So that’s what he got for being famous.

~

“How’d it go?” Was the first thing Liam wanted to know when he came stumbling into Harry’s room. Harry had promised to text him as soon as he was home and so he did and Liam had come over right again.

“Perfect.” Harry replied with a wide grin and he wasn’t even ashamed. He was just so fucking happy that he had a hard time holding it back and figured Liam would find out soon enough anyways, so me might as well tell him now.

Liam grinned back at his friend in excitement and pure joy, because he’s happy for him. He wanted Harry to be happy, wanted him to find someone who is what Zayn was for him.

“Well tell me everything!” He demanded as he jumped onto the bed next to Harry, nudging his shoulder with his.

“What do you wanna know?”

“Where did you go? Did you kiss? What did you talk about? What did you say? Did you kiss? Are you seeing him again? When are you seeing him again? And most importantly: Did you kiss?” Liam grinned wide in excitement and Harry only laughed.

“God, you’re nosy.” He said and Liam made a face, but Harry went on and answered all his questions anyways. “We didn’t kiss. But held hands. For like forever. We were walking around the park and he was holding my hand and, oh, before that we went to a coffee shop and we also got ice cream and we just talked, I don’t know about anything really. He told me about some show he has on Sunday and all about being famous and he’s so cool. He has all these people coming and asking to take pictures with him and it’s just so cool that I’m there on a date with him and.. yeah..” He took a deep breaths and realized that he was rambling, chuckling out a laugh as Liam beamed at him.

“Good, good.” He said with a smile. “He really sounds like a fun guy.”

“I’d say ‘Hey you should meet him!’ but then you would and you would say something really embarrassing about me, so I’m not having any of that.”

“Very funny, Harry.” Liam said with a sour smile, though he knew that Harry was right. It was just fun making Harry blush. “But anyways, when are you seeing him again? The sooner you two start dating the sooner you can’t keep me from meeting him.” Harry rolled his eyes, ignoring Liam’s last comment.

“He hasn’t really said anything about going out again, so..”

“He probably wants you to.” Liam said with a shrug. Harry looked at him in confusion, cocking his eyebrows at him. “Well, he asked for the last date so you kind of know that he wants to go out. And now it’s you turn. You have to ask him.”

“Is that really how it works?” Harry asked incredulously. He was caught somewhere between complete awe that he didn’t know how basic dating worked and the fear that Liam was just plain mocking him, because honestly he had never heard about it before.

“Sounds reasonable to me.” Liam replied with a shrug and no, he did not look like he was mocking.

“Oh, okay. So- So what do I do?”

“Well, first of all you’re gonna wait a day or two. Or maybe three. You don’t wanna seem desperate. And then you give him a call. You ask him what he’s up to and if he wants to meet again. Just like Louis did with you.”

“Yeah.” Harry said with a nod, his eye focused on some distant point. “Sounds good.”

~

Wednesday passed.

Thursday passed.

Friday passed.

On Saturday Harry meant to call Louis, he really did. But somehow Saturday came really fast and Harry didn’t feel prepared. He didn’t want to be thrown into another last minute date, like he had been on Tuesday. (Though Tuesday had been pretty perfect and he kind of wanted to repeat that. But he just couldn’t bring himself to be that spontaneous.)

On Sunday Zayn was done with it. Liam had been done with it by Friday already, but Zayn had kept his boyfriend in check until now. Now it was Sunday morning and Liam and Zayn had both invited themselves over for breakfast at Harry’s. Harry’s mum was happy to have two more hungry eaters to feed and cook for and so she wasn’t of any help when Harry tried to kick his two mates out.

“Don’t be rude.” His mum had scold him. “Sit down and eat.”

And so he was stuck at the table with his two friends as Zayn led the conversation towards the topic of Louis. Subtly as ever.

“So what’s with your pop star boyfriend?”

And thank God Harry’s mum had already finished her plate and had left the boys alone to drink her cup of coffee somewhere else.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Harry said, lowering his eyes to his plate and trying to avoid Zayn’s actual question.

“Alright, what’s with your pop star not-boyfriend?”

Well, so much for avoiding the question.

“Nothing’s with him.” Harry mumbled and even though he was still staring at his plate he felt Zayn and Liam exchange looks.

“Hazza.” Liam said, dragging the word. “Just give him a call. What’s he gonna do? Rip your head off through the phone?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh come on! You’re acting ridiculously. You call him right now. Or else I will!”

“Liam, don’t be silly I can’t call him today, today he’s got- LIAM NO!” Harry almost exploded when Liam snatched his phone from the table and ran out of the room, acting like a maniac. “Liam!”

Zayn was still sitting at the table with Harry, giving him a sympathetic look.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Harry scold him with a glare. “Go stop you’re boyfriend from being the fucking prick he is.”

“Hey!” Zayn said in an half effort of restoring his boyfriend’s honor, but him and Harry both knew that it was well deserved at the moment and so he let go of it.

~

It wasn’t till an hour later that Harry finally got his phone back. Zayn had to keep him from slapping Liam across the face before he even read what Liam had texted Louis. Harry just knew he was angry at him, no matter what he had said.

From: Harry (9:18am)

“Hey Louis! What’s up? I was wondering if you’re free today and maybe wanted to grab something to eat later? xx”

From: Louis (9:21am)

“I have the TV show I told you about today, remember?”

From: Harry (9:22am)

“Ah yeah, I do. Shame. You need to be there all day though? I could come over and bring some coffee maybe?”

From: Louis (9:24am)

“Are you sure? You don’t have to you know, I get it if you wouldn’t wanna see me again.”

(Harry was a little confused when he read that part of the conversation. Why would Louis think Harry didn’t want to have anything to do with him? More like the other way around.)

From: Harry (9:28am)

“No, I sure wanna see you again. I think you’re nice and funny and your bum is pretty spectacular.”

(Oh Liam was do dead, Harry thought. He had really only said that once and he never phrased it that way anyways.)

From: Louis (9:28am)

“Haha, okay. Whatever you say Harry.”

From: Harry (9:30am)

“Exactly! So are we still on for coffee later?”

From: Louis (9:36am)

“Yeah, alright. We have a break between rehearsals and the actual show. You can swing by during that time. I’ll texts you the details later, alright?”

From: Harry (9:39am)

“Okay, sounds great. See you then. xx”

From: Louis (9:39am)

“Yeah, see you. Can’t wait! xx”

~

Louis was nervously pacing back and forth in the little room backstage he had been given for preparations at the studio for the show. Not only did he have to worry about the show later on and his performance – and boy, was he nervous about that! - but now Harry had also announced his coming, more confident than ever. So he was completely clueless as to where he was standing with Harry. He had been so sure that he would never see the boy again, but then he was texting him this morning and thanks to him he had messed up every single rehearsal all day long. To say that his manager had been pissed was the understatement of the year and so he had another thing to worry about right there.

So overall it had just been a stressful day and Louis couldn’t deny that not only was he looking forward to seeing Harry, but also to having coffee. For some reason the people at the TV studio thought that only because he was British he preferred tea over coffee any time of the day. Which was definitely a false stereotype concerning Louis and so he was jumping up and down in anticipation as the time moved on and Harry was about to arrive.

Five minutes left.

Two minutes left.

One minute left.

Thirty seconds left.

Eight, seven, six.. three, two one second left.

Harry was late. Which that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Louis felt devastated, which really he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t get this upset about Harry running twenty seconds late. Except soon it was almost a minute and then two and then five.

Louis had stopped pacing, his hands shoved into his pockets and his brows furrowed in concern. Maybe Harry had been in an accident? Maybe he was lying in a ditch bleeding to death? Or maybe he got kidnapped and the kidnappers were right in this moment negotiating how much money they could get before ripping his head off? Or maybe he was only running late.

He was. And that made Louis feel pathetic and ridiculous. He almost couldn’t believe the relieve rushing through his veins when there was a quiet knock on the door followed by a mess of dark curls poking through the gap of the opened door.

Harry grinned at him sheepishly, pushing the door open a little further and them walked in with a tray of two cups in his hand. Louis scold himself inwardly because there were so many things going wrong right now. For once he should not have worried as much in the first place and he should definitely not feel as happy to see the boy as he did now. Secondly he should not get as excited over a cup of coffee as he did right now. It was only a hot beverage not a hot shag! But somehow his brain couldn’t sort thing properly at the moment – which was probably due to the nerves – and so he only smiled back at Harry as said boy crossed the room.

“Hey.” He greeted as he set down the tray with coffee on the low table in front of one of the couches. “Traffic’s hell around here!” He complained, explaining his late arrival and Louis thought the statement sounded somewhat rehearsed, but he didn’t question it.

“Hi, yeah, sorry.” He said lamely, biting down onto his tongue and why the hell was he nervous with Harry now too? This was supposed to be the easy part for the night. This was supposed to be calming him down before he was to set a foot onto that stage.

Except it wasn’t. It was the exact opposite and Louis wondered idly whether Harry knew, because his smile seemed a little wider than usually. Or maybe a little more confident. Maybe he was drunk. Or high. Or Louis was overreacting. (Oh yeah right, he had been doing that all day long already anyways.)

“I didn’t know how you liked your coffee so I just got some milk for it..” Harry said hesitantly as he handed Louis one of the cups. “But mine’s still black, if you’d like we could trade.”

“No, no.” Louis said, taking the cup from Harry. “Milk’s fine. Thanks a lot. Been craving coffee all day long.”

“Yeah, thought you might need something to calm the nerves.” Harry said with a bashful smile and Louis wondered if Harry’s statement was just a good guess or whether he was being that obvious. Probably not though, Louis thought, cause if he did Harry would also realize that not all nerves were due to the show. Which that he didn’t so Louis figured Harry had just gotten lucky.

“Thanks.” Louis said anyways, nipping on his drink. “I’ve been rehearsing all day.”

“Good.”

“Rehearsals went shit.”

“Well, not good.”

“Like really, really shit.”

“Then the show can only get better.” Harry said with an encouraging smile and Louis wondered at what point in time the tables had turned. He was supposed to be the one to make Harry blush and enjoy watching him squirm uncomfortably as Louis teased him in his flirting way. But now he was blushing and squirming and wondered whether Harry was flirting with him. After all he did bring him coffee, so that was something. And also he had approached him, asking for another date, even though Louis had been sure that their thing was over. He had been so sure and so wrong.

“Don’t worry about it too much.” Harry told him, pulling him back into reality. “You’ll do great.”

“Thanks?” Louis said blushing a little now and why was he blushing? Harry could tell him he would do great, no big deal. No big deal.

“You’re really nervous, aren’t you?” Harry asked again, his hands closing around Louis’ and just then he realized that they had been shaking. Not that it got any better now that Harry was holding hisfucking hands.

Harry, Harry, Harry., he thought, his mind trying to wrap around what was happening right now. Please let go, please hold on, please let go, please hold on, please-

“Louis?”

Louis blinked twice and then realized that he had closed his eyes. He forced himself to keep them opened this time, though when Harry’s hands reached up to cup Louis’ face he wasn’t sure he had the willpower to do anything right now except from staring back at Harry and marveling at the sheer beauty of his face. Okay, so Louis was definitely a goner, but it most certainly didn’t help that he realized that twenty minutes before he was supposed to step on a stage and sing to several thousand people watching the show on TV.

“Calm down, okay? You look a little pale.” Harry kept muttering more words but Louis didn’t really hear him, didn’t hear anything except for the intercom announcing his entrance in less than fifteen minutes now. He needed to go to the stage. He needed to go over his choreo one last time. He needed to warm up his voice for good now. But Harry’s hands were still on his face and that was awfully distracting. That and the fact that his face was closer than ever before, close enough to kiss if only that was what they did. But they didn’t, at least not yet so that wasn’t of any concern to Louis. The only thing important right now was the show and that-

Louis’ mind blacked out and he wasn’t sure what was going on. His eyes were closed and his fingers laced with Harry’s and oh. Oh, Harry’s lips were pressed against his and was this real life? Was this really happening?

The kiss was chaste and sweet and over before it had really started. Wow. Wow. Wow. Harry pulled back from him, an uncertain look in his eyes, but he looked happy. He looked satisfied and pleased with himself so all Louis could do was to grin back at him like a maniac, because well this was pretty much perfect.

“Thought that would calm you down.” Harry said with something on his lips that looked almost like a smirk. And Louis hadn’t realized but he had stopped shaking all together, his heartbeat had slowed down just a tad bit and his breathing was more even than before. The nerves weren’t really gone, especially because he had just kissed the most perfect boy in the world – and wow – but they were bearable and the kind that pushed you to do better rather than to fail.

“Maybe we could..” Louis started, his voice sounding raspy. He coughed awkwardly motioning between the two of them. “Again? You know.. just, uh, just for good measure.”

Louis knew that his way of expressing himself wasn’t the most eloquent right now, but he hoped Harry got the message anyways. And he did, so a moment later their eyes met for a brief moment, before they were shut tightly while their lips met again, pressing together softly.

Relief flooded Louis’ body once again and he was almost positive that the show was going to be a piece of cake after this.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this any good? Did you like the ending? Leave a comment. xx


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